ABSTRACT
It is by now a commonplace that Napoleon viewed the satellite states of his Empire largely as sources of financial support and of recruits for his Grande Armée. The French human and economic resources were insufficient to support his military campaigns, especially after 1806. Naturally, the more troops and payments the French ruler obtained from occupied Europe, the less he needed to secure from France, thereby reducing the risk of internal opposition to his policies. Not surprisingly, Napoleon took for granted his right to use the resources of the occupied lands; as he indicated in a letter to his sister Caroline, “Above all, my wish is that people should do what suits France; for I have conquered kingdoms in order that France should reap the benefits.”1 It is estimated that between 1804 and 1814 the conquered lands paid half of Napoleon’s military expenses.2 The Grande Armée was, in practice, a European army that consisted not only of French soldiers but of hundreds of thousands of conscripts from Poland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and other countries. Napoleon’s dependence on foreign soldiers becomes evident when we recall that half of the 600,000 troops who crossed the Niemen River into Russia in 1812 originated from ten different nationalities.3 In sum, without the huge numbers of soldiers from throughout Europe, Napoleon would have been unable to maintain and expand his empire.
